Today we feature the second article of the series where Trust Board Member Matt Davis looks at the work of the Football In The Community (FITC) via a question and answer session with Craig White who manages the scheme.
How is it funded and who are you employed by?It is important for supporters to realise that we are totally self financing and independent from the football club. We have a totally separate bank account and rely on generating our own income (from our 80-100 courses etc) and from grant funding from several organisations including:
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The football in the community umbrella organisation
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The FA
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The Football League
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Leicester City Football Club
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Various sponsors we manage to pick up on the way!
MORE IN DEPTH DETAILS OF FOOTBALL IN THE COMMUUNITY:
Can you describe a typical day?
To be honest, as manager, my day is spent juggling a number of skill areas in order to make sure we continue to be successful in all that we do. Examples of this include:
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Accountancy (to manage the tight constraints of our budget)
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Marketing (promoting all that we do)
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Public Relations (with all parties we interject with)
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Obtaining Grant Funding (including filling in the long complicated forms)
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Registering children on courses & ensuring we have coaches for courses etc
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Organising prizes and certificates for children who attend
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Organising venues for future courses etc……..
What are the best and worst bits of your job?
Best – Coaching and seeing children develop (this is regardless of ability as we welcome children of any ability)Worst – Without doubt, any of the office paperwork i.e. the non football related aspects of the job
How are you linked to the Youth Academy?
We work very closely in conjunction with them, especially at our two development centres, one in Market Harborough & one here at the Dome in Belvoir Drive
Who/what has been the best success (e.g. past & present players unearthed that have progressed etc)?
In addition to Emile Heskey, who I’m led to believe attended in the early days, I suppose the most famous current player would be Richard Stearman who was an attendee at football in the community courses at Market Harborough.
How involved are the first team?
The first team are very good at being involved. I book players to attend presentations and to give out certificates etc & they attend and are good ambassadors for the club. It is good to see them giving back to the community and I think they enjoy it to.
Do you have any links to other clubs?
Yes, we regularly network with other Football in the Community Projects
How does FITC at LCFC compare to other clubs?
Generally speaking we are better than most clubs and so clubs come to us for advice and I am asked to speak at FA conferences about the work we do. This having been said, there are always strands of the work where maybe someone else does something better. Where this is the case, we get out there, see what they are doing and implement the good bits within our project.
The next article will look in detail at the services provided by the FITC including the ever growing popularity of girls football